Byron Jackson Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 9, 1943

53 N.L.R.B. 528 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of BYRON JACKSON CO. and WESTERN MECHANICS,
LOCAL 700 , IUMMSWA (CIO)
In the Matter of BYRON JACKSON Co . and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD
BLACKSMITHS , DROP FORGERS & HELPERS, AFL
Cases Nos. 21-R-d096 and 01-R-21.8, respectively: Decided
November 9, 1943
Latham & Watkins, by Mr. Paul R. Watkins, of Los Angeles, Calif.,,
for the Company.
Katz, Gallagher cC Margolis, by Mr. Milton S. Tyre, of Los Angeles,
Calif., and Mr. Jack Marcotti, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the CIO.
Mr. Dave Sokol, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Metal Trades Council
and the PMA.
Mr. W. F. Jebe, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the PMA.
Mr. Roscoe V. Ickes, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the IAM.
Mr. Thomas L. Young, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Warehousemen.
Mr. Robert Silagi, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petitions duly filed by Western Mechanics, Local 700,
,IUMMSWA (CIO), herein called the CIO, and by International
Brotherhood Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers & Helpers, AFL, herein
called the Blacksmiths, each alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Byron
Jackson Co., Los Angeles, California, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board consolidated the cases and provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Daniel J. Harring-
ton, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia, on September 24 and 28, 1943. The Company, the CIO, the
Blacksmiths, International Association of Machinists, Lodge 311,
herein called the IAM,1 General Warehousemen's Local 598, herein
The TAM has since reafliated with the American Federation of Labor.
53 N. L. R. B., No. 94.
528
BYRON JACKSON co. 529
called the Warehousemen, Pattern Makers Association of Los Angeles,
herein called the PMA, and Los Angeles Metal Trades Council,2 ap-
peared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Byron Jackson Co., a Delaware corporation, operates plants in
Vernon, Fresno, and Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; and
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and has sales offices located in other com-
munities throughout the country. Normally, the Company manu-
factures oil well tools and centrifugal pumps. At the present time,
however, the Company's operations are largely devoted to essential
war work consisting of a great many items of a confidential nature.
The only plants of the Company involved in this proceeding are the
two located on Vernon Avenue in Vernon, California, and one plant
located on Slauson Avenue, in Los Angeles, California. Materials
purchased for use in these three plants, consisting of various kinds
of steel, including castings and formings, exceed $500,000 in value per
annum, more than half of which is shipped to the plants from points
outside the State of California. Sales of products manufactured at
the Vernon and Slauson plants exceed $500,000 annually, of which
products amounting in value to more than $250,000 are transported to
places outside the State of California.
The Company concedes that it is engaged in commerce within the'
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Western Mechanics, Local 700, affiliated with the International
Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers of America, and the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company. 7
International Brotherhood Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers & Helpers;
International Association of Machinists, Lodge 311; General Ware-
housemen's Local 598, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of
2 Before the termination of the hearing, the Los Angeles Metal Trades Council withdrew
from the proceedings.
530 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Teamsters, ; Chauffeur's, , Warehousemen , and Helpers of America; .and
Pattern;Makers Association of,Los Angeles, are labor organizations
affiliated w,ith:the American Federation of Labor, and admit to, mem ,
bership,employees of the Company.,
THE , QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Thetparties stipulated that the Company has failed to reply to a
'request' by the CIO' to bargain with it as the representative of the
51auson plant employees. During the course of the hearing the
Company refused to make ally reply to a request by the Blacksmiths to
recognize that union as the, collective bargaining representative of the
forge shop employees in the Vernon plant.
Statements of'a'Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing; indicate that the CIO, the Blacksmiths, and the PMA each repre-
sents a substantial -number of employees in the units alleged to be
appropriate 3' ' ' ' ' ' '
'We find that' questions affecting' commerce have arisen concerning
lhe representation 'f employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)' and (7) of the Act.
I, I ' ;' IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the CIO, In substantial agreement, seek a unit
of all production and maintenance employees in the Slauson plant,
excluding office clerical employees, office janitorial employees, time-
the, Field • Examiner reported that the CIO submitted 144 application cards, all of
which bore apparently genuine original signatures; that the names of 140 persons appear-
ing on the ' cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of August 23, 1943, which con-
tained the names of 355 emplo9ees in the unit sought; and that the cards were 'dated
between July 1942 and August 1943. , I
The Blacksmiths submitted 14 authorization cards, 13 of which bore apparently genuine
original signatures . The names of 10 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the
Company 's pay roll of September 6, 1943, which contained the names of 25 employees in
the appropriate unit. Seven of'the cards wete dated August 1943 and 7 were undated.
PMA submitted 13 authorization cards dated in September 1943, all of which bore
apparently genuine original signatures. Of the cards,,12 bore the names of persons on
the Company 's pay roll of September 25, 1943, which listed 13 employees within the
allegedly appropriate unit., , • '
'{IAM'submitted certain evidence in support of its 'claims which consist of (a) a list
of• 17 inames sworn to' on September . 24, 1943, as being members of the IAM, and (b) 234
authorization cards dated variously between August 1941 and September 1943. Of the
cards submitted 223 bore apparently genuine original signatures . Only 4 cards bore the
names of persons within the unit claimed I to be' appropriate by the CIO , which embraces
a total of 355 employees in the Slauson plant. Within the unit of approximately 975
persons emplo9ed in the Slauson and Vernon plants, which the IAM alleges is appropriate,
136 individuals have :apparently authorized the IAM to bargain for them.
The Warehousemen submitted 11 authorization cards, which although purporting to
be TAM cards, are claimed to he authorizations on behalf of the Warehousemen All cards
bore apparently genuine original signatures and were dated between November 1942 and
September 11943. • Five of the cards bore'the 'names of persons listed on the Company's
pay roll , all in the Vernon plants . The pay rolls of the Vernon plants list 58 employees,
and the Slauson plant ' s pay roll lists 33 employees within the unit alleged by the Ware-
housemen to be appropriate.
BYRON JACKSON CO. 531
keepers, plant gruards, and executive, administrative, and professional
employees. The IAM seeks, essentially, a production and maintenance
unit, embracing the two Vernon plants as well as the Slauson plant
but excluding therefrom the units sought by the other A. F. of L.
affiliates . The record establishes that aside from corporate ownership
there is little connection between the three plants. One of the two
Vernon plants, which are contiguous, produces oil well tools and
some munitions, while the other is devoted exclusively to the produc-
tion of munitions. The Slauson plant manufactures centrifugal
pumps. The plants operate independently of each other, each having
separate managerial personnel, pay rolls, pay days, bonus plans, and
identification badges which do not admit employees of one plant into
any of the other plants. Interchange or transfer of employees among
the plants is extremely limited. There are, however, some facilities
which the plants use in common, e. g., a central employment office, a
single office which makes up pay-roll checks for all plants, and a forge
shop at one of the Vernon plants which also performs certain heat-
treatment operations for the Slauson plant. Under these circum-
stances either a single or multiple plant unit might be indicated.
An examination of the showing of representation made by the CIO
and the IAM 4 persuades us that a single plant unit is appropriate
at the present time. It is evident that the CIO has confined its organ-
izational activities to the Slauson plant 5 where it has apparently or-
ganized 39 percent of the employees in the unit it claims to be appro-
priate. On the other hand, the IAM's attempt to organize on a
company-wide basis has been almost wholly unsuccesful at the
Slauson plant.e The unit which the IAM seeks is so different from
the CIO's that in effect the IAM's intervention should be treated as
a petition. It is obvious that a petition supported by such a poor
showing of representation as herein made by the IAM would not
be entertained by us; 7 nor, under the facts of this case, should the
claims of the IAM be given any greater consideration merely because
they appear in the form of an intervention rather than a petition.,,
Accordingly, we find that the single plant unit of Slauson employees
rather than a unit including the employees of all three plants, is
appropriate.e
4 See footnote 3, supra.
s A few cards which the CIO submitted on behalf of Vernon employees were withdrawn
6 The IAM represents less than 14 percent of the production and maintenance employees
on an over-all basis and only 1 percent in the Slauson plant.
7 See Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 44 N. L. R. B. 1111 ; Matter of Public
Service Company of Indiana, Inc., 42 N. L. R. B. 639; and Matter of American Manu-
facturing Co., 41 N. L It B. 995.
8 On 'September 1, 1943, the TAM filed a petition covering employees of the Vernon
plants only. This petition was withdrawn 2 weeks later.
B However, since the IAM has made a shol'ing in the Slauson plant we shall accord it
a place on the ballot.
532 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The unit sought by the Warehousemen consists of all truck drivers
and warehousemen in all three of the Company's plants, including
stockroom clerks, shipping and receiving clerks, and dispatchers
The Company and the CIO contend that such a unit is not appro-
priate. 'The Warehousemen's showing of representation in the unit
it seeks is only 5 percent, and it makes no showing whatever in the
Slauson plant. This showing does not warrant the holding of an
election in the Vernon plants among the employees the Warehouse-
men seeks to represent. Moreover, since there is no evidence to indi-
cate that any employees in the Slauson plant desire a separate unit
such as the Warehousemen requests, we see no reason to exclude the
employees over whom it asserts jurisdiction from the general produc-
tion and maintenance unit.
Another point of contention among the parties with respect to
the production and maintenance unit in the Slauson plant arises
over the inclusion of leadmen in the unit. The CIO argues for-their
exclusion as supervisory employees, whereas all other parties con-
tend for their inclusion. There is a leadman over each appropriate
group of machines or operations who has from 3 to 25 employees un-
der him. Leadmen do not hire or discharge employees, or recommend
such action, nor do they even possess authority to discipline or trans-
fer employees. They are under no duty to make reports concerning
the employees under them. They express opinions to foremen with
respect to the men under them only when asked to do so. Some lead-
men perform a large amount of manual labor and some little. The
Company contends that leadmen are instructors who help to train
new employees and to improve old ones. Leadmen receive from 5
to 10 cents an hour more than the men under them, but a leadman, in
one department may not receive more than a rank-and-file employee
in a different department which has a higher wage scale. Leadmen
are not consulted on matters relating to wage increases for the em-
ployees under them. Since the record shows that little, if any, real
weight is given to their recommendations or opinions, we shall in-
clude them in the appropriate unit.
At its Slauson plant, the Company maintains a separate building
devoted exclusively to pattern making, employing therein, and under
the supervision of a pattern shop foreman, all pattern makers,
learners, and storage employees. The PMA contends that the em-
ployees of the pattern shop constitute a separate appropriate unit.
The CIO contends that about half of the employees of the pattern
shop are learners whose wage rates and skills are comparable to the
unskilled production and maintenance employees in the main plant:
The CIO likewise contends that storage employees are not part of
any pattern makers' unit. The PMA considers storing of patterns
BYRON JACKSON' CO. 533
to be the initial step in learning the trade of pattern making and
therefore takes storage employees into its membership. The Com-
pany also considers the storage employees as part of the pattern
shop. Although the PMA does not have an agreement with the
Company covering the pattern shop, it has settled grievances for
these employees and the Company has hired pattern makers through
that organization. Under all the circumstances we are of the opin-
ion that the pattern shop employees may properly constitute a separate
bargaining unit or may equally achieve the full benefit of their right
to self-organization and collective bargaining as part of a plant-wide
unit. In this situation we shall permit the scope of the bargaining
unit or units to be determined in part by the desires of the employees
themselves to be expressed in a separate election.
As indicated above, the Company operates a forge shop in one of
the Vernon plants, called Vernon No. 1. The forge shop is housed
in a separate building wherein are employed about 25 blacksmiths,
blacksmiths' helpers, heat treaters and helpers, and hammer drivers,
all of whom are sought by the Blacksmiths as a separate unit. Sepa-
rate supervision is maintained over the forge shop, and the employees
thereof, are paid wage rates different from those of the other employees
in the plant. This unit is opposed by both the Company and the
CIO, who contend that only an industrial unit is appropriate. In
view of the fact that there is no prior history of collective bargaining
in this plant and the further fact that the petitioning union limits its
membership to the unit herein requested, and is the only organization
to organize effectively in that group, we shall not deny the benefits
of the Act to these employees until the entire plant is organized, but
shall permit then to select a bargaining representative forthwith.
The record indicates that there are 2 supervisory employees in the
forge ship, viz, a blacksmith foreman and a heat treating foreman.
The blacksmith foreman is in charge of the blacksmiths and hammer
drivers, and in turn answers to the superintendent in charge of both
the forge and machine shops. Heat treaters are under a separate
foreman who takes his orders from the metallurgical laboratory
supervisor. Since it appears that these foremen are higher in the
supervisory hierarchy than the leadmen, previously discussed, we
shall exclude them from the unit.
We find that all blacksmiths, blacksmiths' helpers, heat treaters,
heat treaters' helpers, and hammer drivers, employed in the forge
shop of the Company's Vernon plant No. 1, but excluding the black-
smith foreman, the heat treating foreman, and any other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
In addition to the election which we shall direct in the blacksmiths'
unit, on the basis of the entire record, and in accordance with the fore-
going, we shall direct elections among the employees of the Company
within the groups described below :
• (1) All production and maintenance employees in the Company's
Slauson plant, including leadmen, but excluding office clerical em-
ployees, office janitorial employees, timekeepers, employees in the
pattern shop, plant guards, and executive, administrative, and pro-
fessional employees, and all supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, to
determine whether they desire to be represented by the CIO or the
IAM, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by, neither.
(2) All employees in the pattern shop at the Company's Slauson
plant, but excluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action, to determine
whether they desire to be represented by the CIO or by the PMA, for
the purposes of collective bargaining.
As stated above there will be no final determination of the appro-
priate unit or units with respect to the Slauson plant voting groups,
pending the results of the election. If the CIO receives a majority of
the votes cast in the respective voting groups, employees in said groups
will, together, constitute a single appropriate unit.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among
the employees in the appropriate unit at the Vernon plant and among
the employees in the aforesaid groups at the Slauson plant who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and
'additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
"Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor RelationsAct,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Byron Jackson
Co., Los Angeles, California, separate elections by secret ballot shall
BYRON JICKSION CO. 535
be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the following groups of employees, who were employed during
the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction,
including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and in-
cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who present
themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re-
instated prior to the date of the election :
(1) All production and maintenance employees in the Company's
Slauson plant, including leadmen, but excluding office clerical em-
ployees, office janitorial employees, timekeepers, employees of the pat-
tern shop, plant guards, and executive, administrative, and profes-
sional employees, and all supervisory employees with authority to
hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, to deter-
mine whether they desire to be represented by the Western Mechanics,
Local 700, IUMMSWA (CIO), or by the International Association
of Machinists, Lodge 311, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by neither;
(2) All employees of the pattern shop at the Company's Slauson
plant, but excluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action, to determine
whether they desire to be represented by the Western Mechanics, Local
700, IUMMSWA (CIO), or by the Pattern Makers Association of Los
Angeles, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither ;
(3) All blacksmiths, blacksmiths' helpers, heat treaters, heat
treaters' helpers, and hammer drivers employed in the forge shop
of the Company's Vernon plant 'No. 1, but excluding the black-
smith foreman, heat treat;.ng foreman, and any other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by the International Brotherhood Blacksmiths, Drop
Forgers & Helpers, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.